Where Is

State House

Candidate?

April 27, 1994|By LANE KELLEY Staff Writer

POMPANO BEACH — Mike Cary, who achieved such recognition for his protest of X-rated clubs in North Broward that he got drafted as a candidate for state representative, apparently has moved out of Florida.

Cary, who had been a construction manager, filed last fall to run as a Republican against state Rep. John Rayson, D-Pompano Beach, but Cary's friends say he has moved to Indianapolis.

There is a phone number for a Michael Cary in Indianapolis, but it is unlisted. Cary's children were taken out of St. Elizabeth Catholic Church School in February, said Rita O'Leary, headmaster of the school.

Cary led the protest last year by residents of the unincorporated Cresthaven area against the proliferation of X-rated clubs in their neighborhood.

Their protest eventually led the Broward County Commission to pass a new ordinance governing adult-oriented clubs in unincorporated areas of the county, but some strip clubs challenged the ordinance in court and stopped it from being enforced.

The residents eventually pressed Cary to run against Rayson. Rayson had come under fire for telling residents that, as their state representative, he would help them fight the growing number of X-rated businesses. As a private lawyer, however, he was representing some of those businesses.

State and county election officials say Cary didn't file a quarterly campaign report that was due by April 11 for the November election. Lew Keller, Broward County Republican chairman, said Cary was not the party's first choice to run against Rayson anyway.

"We are looking at other candidates as well," Keller said, though he wouldn't name any of them. "You can bet we will come up with a...strong candidate."